


Home is Where the Heart Is

by RevoHale



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Cute?, Fluff, M/M, New Years Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 04:41:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21870229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RevoHale/pseuds/RevoHale
Summary: Post series one shotRichard’s trip comes to an end when he’s desperate to resolve his feelings for Jared before 2021.
Relationships: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Home is Where the Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve never written like anything (lmao I’m an engineer don’t @ me) so lmk what you think!  
> This is less of actual plot/story and more me just missing Silicon Valley and the Richard/Jared angst and loving New Year’s Eve themed love stories. It’s pretty rough but I hope you like it :)

It didn’t hit Richard until he’d finally landed in Kyoto. He hadn’t found Erlich in Tibet, in fact, he found nothing. What he did find, however, was a weird pang in his chest. Regret? Fear? Anxiety? 

But he knew it wasn’t any of the usual suspects. He guessed it was homesickness - it was December 31st - he’d spent Christmas alone, holed up in a hotel somewhere between the harsh Tibet winds. He didn’t miss his family, but maybe the rest of the guys, the little family at Pied Piper he’d worked so damn hard to create. But that family was gone too, and the last he’d heard from any of them was a brief email from Jared asking how he was doing. He didn’t reply. That was a month ago. 

Fucking Jared, he thought. What Richard wouldn’t give to have Jared here in Kyoto, marveling at the pagodas and silence the snow cast over the landscape. He’d want to explore the area, find new teas the two of them could try. Jared would be so polite, his large stature a humble vessel for his soul. If Jared came on this trip - god, Richard smiled slightly at the thought. He was sitting on the window ledge in his hotel room, looking at the snow glistening over the city. His phone was burning a hole in his pocket. He hadn’t checked his email in weeks, and he was half-tempted to see if he’d missed anything important. 

Besides Newell Road Technologies, that is. He was secretly jealous Dinesh and Gilfoyle hadn’t said anything to him, just started emailing him from addresses ending in the company’s site. He needed to be happy for them. They’d moved on. Richard hadn’t, clearly, just found different spots of the world to dull the pain. 

He unlocked his phone, opening Gmail like a basic bitch, his inner Dinesh sneered. He scrolled through the spam and bullshit. Was there really nothing from anyone? Just as he was about to close app, he nearly scrolled past an email from Dinesh. Opening it, he was surprised to see a...party invite. His company was hosting a New Year’s Eve party, appropriately themed “Out With the Bullshit, In With the New Shit”. 

Richard bit his fingernails, half-tempted by the offer, because fuck, he wanted to see some familiar faces for the first time in a year. He wasn’t kidding his conscious though. He wanted to see Jared. Had he changed? Did he hate Richard now? The weight of those questions burned Richard, like the way his cheeks burned thinking of seeing Jared for the first time in a year. 

“Fuck,” he said aloud, to no one particularly. Would Jared even be at the party? Fuck it, it didn’t matter. He just needed to see Jared. He grabbed his laptop from its place on the bed, and began searching flights home. It was December 30th, and if he did the math right, with the time zones and everything, he would make it back to Palo Alto in the fucking nick of time for 2021. 

.

By the time he landed in San Francisco, he was so burnt out from travel and time differences that he didn’t realize it was 10:30 PM, December 31st. 

“Ah, shit” he fumbled, ordering a Lyft. Your driver is 12 minutes away. He groaned. Of course - it was New Year’s Eve. He’d get to the party before midnight, hopefully. He needed to. 

He loaded his luggage into the driver’s Corolla, and hopped in the backseat, eager not to speak a single word. He looked out the window for most of the ride, thinking finally about the feelings he’d tried repressing at the Kyoto airport. Jared. He needed to see Jared’s blue eyes - icy pools of blue like the lagoons in Iceland - but more comforting than the fire the old woman at the hotel prepared for him there. His hands, so big and red in the palms, but white and thin in his fingertips. His hands were truly extraordinary to Richard. 

He had dreamed a life together with Jared in the back of his mind many times, coming home from whatever job to see Jared, neatly pressed, kind, Jared, who would kiss him on the temple and hold onto him at night. He never thought of Jared sexually - of course he was attracted to him - but the thought of Jared was too sacred, too fragile to taint. But god, even thinking of him domestically was enough to make Richard anxious. As houses blurred by on the drive, Richard imagined himself and Jared in each of them, a different, calm life accompanying each home. 

Some time later, he arrived at Newell Road Technologies. The office building was much simpler than most buildings in the valley, which he figured helped hide the fact it was a byproduct of the Pied Piper disaster. As he pulled his luggage out of the car, he scanned the parking lot. Jared’s car, was in fact, there. He pushed his nerves to the side and walked into the building, pulling his baggage behind him. 

“Richard?” Dinesh called from across the room. The office fell quiet. He recognized familiar faces from Pied Piper, but no Jared. “What’re you doing here?”

“You didn’t RSVP” Gilfoyle said, emerging next to him, drink in hand. 

“I, uh, just got back.” He gestured to his luggage. 

“Dude, from where? Where have you been hiding?” Dinesh asked, kind of sloshed, thought Richard. 

“Everywhere. You guys have a. Nice company.” He nodded, a tight lipped smile on his face. Where the fuck was Jared? 

“Yeah. It’s nice. As nice as you can get working next to Dinesh everyday.” 

Richards eyes darted around, and then he fumbled for his phone. It was 11:57. “Hey uh, I saw Jared’s car. Is he here? I wanted to say hi.” Richard asked frantically. 

“Juliet’s on the balcony.” Gilfoyle replied slowly. 

“Wh-what?” Richard blinked. 

“The balcony. It’s on the second floor.” Dinesh slurred, gesturing to stairs in the corner of the office. 

“Thanks,” Richard said, barely giving his friends another thought. He climbed the stairs and saw the aforementioned balcony. Through the glass, he already saw Jared’s stature standing out against the outside lights. He walked over, sliding the door. 

Jared turned around, shock in his eyes. 

“Richard?” 

“Uh, hey.” 

Jared sprung forward, hugging him tightly, “where have you been, Richard? We all missed you.” His hair is neatly combed, a sweater pulled over a crisp button down. He’s as perfect as the last time Richard saw him. 

“Soul-searching.” He blinked. “No, exploring.“ He paused. He had no idea how to tell Jared how he felt. Then Richard heard it - the countdown. Fuck. 

10\. 

“Jared. If there’s one thing I know now, you complete me.”

9\. 

“I’m just a shell without you.”

8\. 

“I need you.”

7\. 

“And I want to be near you-“

6\. 

“- forever, I think.”

5\. 

“I don’t ever want to leave you.” 

4\. 

“Jared, I, I’m -“

3\. 

“- I love you.”

2\. 

Jared’s eyes are wide, disbelieving. Both of their cheeks are flushed and Richard is sweating. 

1\. 

Richard finds himself being the one to lean forward, softly connecting his lips to Jared’s. Jared cups Richard’s face, deepening the kiss. He wraps his arms around Jared’s neck, pulling him closer. They stay like that for a moment, too shy to explore each other, but too in love to let go. Finally, Jared pulls away. 

“You’ve changed” he breathes, eyes still locked with Richard’s. 

Neither can look away.


End file.
